NRL Says Anti-Doping Investigators Want to Interview 31 Players

National Rugby League Chief Executive Officer Dave Smith said that "the fact that ASADA will issue notices of interview does not mean players or officials are being charged." Photographer: Joosep Martinson/Getty Images

March 20 (Bloomberg) -- The Australian Sports Anti-Doping
Authority wants to interview 31 National Rugby League players
over the next four to six weeks as part of its investigation
into alleged drug use in the sport, the NRL said.

NRL Chief Executive Officer Dave Smith said today that
clubs were no longer the subject of investigations regarding
systematic doping, outside of the probe into practices at the
Sydney-based Cronulla Sharks in 2011.

“ASADA has informed the NRL that aside from some well-documented concerns at Cronulla, its clear focus is now on
whether individuals -- or groups of individuals -- may have
acted outside of club programs,” Smith said at a televised news
conference. “This is not about clubs. The fact that ASADA will
issue notices of interview does not mean players or officials
are being charged.”

ASADA investigators last month met with officials from NRL
clubs North Queensland, Penrith, Canberra, Newcastle, Manly and
Cronulla after they were mentioned in an Australian Crime
Commission report that found common use of prohibited substances
including peptides, hormones and illicit drugs across multiple
sports in Australia.

The crime commission’s Feb. 7 report, which followed a
yearlong investigation, also linked organized criminal groups
with elite athletes, warned of possible match fixing and said
coaches and doctors were party to doping. The findings have
rocked Australia, home to almost 23 million people for whom
sport is part of the national identity.

Sharks Shakeup

Until now, anti-doping inquiries have been limited to NRL
club officials and coaching staff. Cronulla reacted to the
investigations at its club by conducting a management review
that led to four members of staff having their contracts
terminated, the standing down of head coach Shane Flanagan and
the appointment of an interim chief executive on March 8.

The player interviews will take four to six weeks, after
which ASADA will inform league officials whether any infraction
notices need to be issued for anti-doping violations, the
Sydney-based NRL said.

Requests to interview players doesn’t mean that those
individuals are under direct suspicion and no player will be
stood down until there is sufficient evidence for an infraction
notice, Smith said.

“It is the NRL’s strong view that nobody should be
prejudged,” he said. “Thirty one players are going to go
through an interview. We don’t know the extent of the outcome of
those interviews and neither does ASADA. At the end of it we’ll
know more facts.”